Luke 20:40-4740And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. 41And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David's son? 42And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 43Till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 44David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son? 45Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples, 46Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; 47Which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation. (Luke 20:40‑47), and 21. (Notes of a Lecture by J. N. D.)
In the closing verses of Luke 20 the Lord takes up the chain which was the connection of the subject before Him. This is something distinct from being David’s Son or Jehovah. The Lord having confounded the unwilling Jews by His wisdom, now in His turn questions them, “David called him Lord: how is he then his son?” He quotes Psalm 110. He is seen not as David’s Son, going to take the earthly throne; He leaves for the present His place of Messiah’s throne down here, and takes His place in heavenly glory. “The Lord [Jehovah] said unto my Lord.[Adonai], Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” There ‘is a terrible testimony as to how He takes His place in glory for His enemies. It is not Zion’s king coming unto her, meek and lowly, riding upon an ass! but the One whose enemies; are to be His footstool, both His enemies among the Jews and others.
David’s Son having the place of David’s Lord, was the great hinge on which turned the change in the whole system. It was exactly what the Jews could not understand. Israel was to be set aside for a season, and the Messiah was not going to take the throne yet; but they wanted a present, earthly Messiah. The place He was about to take as seen in Psalm ex. was not simply as the One “who was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh;” nor as “the Son of God” but as “Adonai”—Lord—Man exalted to the right hand of power—Man in glory. Of course, as to His Godhead He was Lord from eternity; but now He was about to be the Man in glory, as the One who did “drink of the brook in the way” (ver. 7); as the One who had taken the lowly place of the dependent man; who had been a pilgrim, like others, getting refreshment by communion with His Father. Thus, having emptied Himself, humbled Himself, He is now exalted by God.
This great universal principle—that “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased”—was fully brought out, as we have seen before, in both Adams. In the first Adam nature would exalt itself to be as God, until in its full ripeness Antichrist will exalt himself above all that is called God or is worshipped, so that he as God, sitting in the temple of God, showeth himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:44Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:4).) Satan will set him up, filling him with the very same spirit with which he tempted him at the beginning. Satan, not being able to exalt himself in heaven, will attempt to do it through the seed of man; but the end shall be abasement. “How art thou fallen from heaven, Ο Lucifer, son of the morning!” Thou hast said in thine heart, “ I will exalt my throne above the stars of God... I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isa. 14.12-15.)
In the Second Adam we have Him who was God humbling Himself, humbling, emptying Himself: going down, becoming obedient even to the vilest of deaths. And then we see that “humbled One” going back to the place He had before—but as Man. God highly exalting Him, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in the heaven, and things in the earth and under the earth.
All this was beyond the reach of Jewish promise to David’s Son. The Jews did not understand the scriptures, hut fulfilled them through not understanding them. God placed man on the earth. He exalted himself. But God goes on patiently trying him until man at last rejects God in Christ. Then, in the fulfillment of His blessed counsels, He takes up the heavenly Man—the Second Adam—and now all life and glory and righteousness descend from heaven, depending not on man’s responsibility, but on the faithfulness of God. Is it life now that is needed? God gives the life of Christ in resurrection. Is it glory? God gives heavenly glory. Is it righteousness? God gives divine righteousness. He puts us in heaven. All flows down, not simply from God in grace, but from the place which Man has in glory! The Man Christ Jesus has fully met all man s responsibilities. This is the reason of the fullness of the blessing of the gospel, and, also of that of the kingdom to come, the blessedness of which will flow from the heavenly Man, though the Jews would have liked it to be set up in an earthly way.
Thus in the largest way the turning-point in all the plans and counsels of God, is Jesus being set at the right hand of God. All the character, the stability, and the perfection of our blessing takes its source from the exalted Jesus. Then the Holy Ghost comes down to bear witness to this, on which the peace of the soul rests—even in the accomplished righteousness of Him who is taken into the glory that the heavenly life we have in Him should be manifested here. Thus, then, have we the Fountain, the very key-stone of all God’s plans. Mark the moral blessedness—this universal principle—“He that humbleth himself shall be exalted” is displayed in perfection in the Second Adam in contrast to the first; but let us remember that this is the place we are to take, and He hath left us an example. In one sense truly we are at the very bottom already; still as saints we may know what it is to be servants of all.
There was this spirit of self-exaltation in the scribes, the Pharisees, the rich; but the Lord looks to the simple-hearted devotedness of the poor widow, and cares not for all the religious pretenses, and for that which has a great appearance before men. (Chap. 20: 46, 47; 21:1-4. Having laid the great moral basis of all God’s ways in David’s son’s exaltation to be David’s Lord, the Lord goes on to show the practical results. (Compare Matt. 24 with Luke 21) In Matt. 24 we get God’s dealings with Jerusalem in special connection with the Jews. Up to verse 14 there is a general description of the testimony which was to go forth so long as there was any Jewish remnant to testify, or any Judea to testify in. Then in verse 15 He goes back and details the special circumstances of the close (the “times of the Gentiles” being quite passed over), that is to say, the last half-week of Daniel, quoting from Dan. 12, when the abomination of desolation will be set up by Antichrist, and the Jews will go back to idolatry, worshipping the idol. These will be the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days, at the close of which, full blessing will be brought in. This will be the time of Jacob s trouble, as in Jeremiah; but this is always connected with Jacob’s deliverance. The Lord will shorten—cut short—those days, or none could be saved: so dreadful will they be. And “they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” In Luke 21 it is not the Jews, but the Son of man and the Gentiles. It is the description of the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor, Titus; and then that which is going on now—Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles, and the full time of the four beasts of Daniel, running out until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. After that there is the end of the age upon the earth distress of nations; but no reference to the events at Jerusalem are detailed in Matthew.
Thus we get, in the clearest way, the double character of these prophecies: that in Luke containing the description of Jerusalem during the times of the Gentiles, when Israel is set aside;
and Matthew giving us that which is specifically Jewish, passing over the times of the Gentiles and speaking of Jacob’s trouble at the close of those times, when the Jews will, under Antichrist, turn back again to idolatry, worshipping the idol he will set up in the temple.
The Lord then was rejected as the Son of David, but it resulted in the bringing in of the far wider and more glorious thing of the Son of man. The Lord dropped for a while His Son of David character, but it was to take up everything in the power of God. The church, life, righteousness, all comes down from the Son of man in glory. And thus it was that Stephen saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. In Psalm 1 we have God’s general principle of government under the law, that the righteous man should stand in the judgment. The Lord alone ever took this perfect place. In Psalm 2 The question is of God’s purposes. In spite of the rising up of the Gentiles, God’s decree should stand as to Christ “He shall be king in Zion.” This does not refer to the eternal Sonship of Christ. In the succeeding Psalm we have the Christ rejected, and the experiences of the Lord and of the remnant. Psalm 8 takes in the wider sphere, the glory which God gave to the Son of man when rejected. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings praise went forth, or the very stones must have cried out. The Lord must have the testimony of praise, though not set up in earthly power. The kingdom having rejected Christ on earth, He gets it in a heavenly way. God is pleased to give all that He has created to the Man in heaven—the Man in God’s counsels—who after all the sorrow He endured and death is crowned with honor and glory. As Man the Lord takes all the power and glory, to which He had a title as God. God, in His blessed wisdom, has centered all in the personal glory of Christ.
The church is the place into which the Holy Ghost brings us into union with Christ, whilst He is thus hid—hidden with Christ in God. The entire, distinct, definite place of the church is that while unknown here, we are united to Him by faith through the power of the Spirit, who comes down and gives us the display of the glory of Christ, not as being under it, but as associated with Himself in all the glory He has in the Father’s house, where we have our place. Thus we never find the church brought in the displays of Christ’s glory save as the bride—never as part of the inheritance—she herself being “joint-heirs with Christ.” It is of the last importance for the saints to apprehend the distinct place which we have as united to the heavenly Man.
The word generation (chap. 21:32) usually, though not exclusively, in scripture, is used as designating a class of men, a multitude having a common character, who may or who may not live at the same period. A case in point is found in Deut. 32:2020And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. (Deuteronomy 32:20), when, in prophesying of this very period, the Lord says of Israel, “They are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.” The scene is earthly (Ver. 36;). We do stand before Him in one sense. There are certain, principles which are true, and apply, at all times, to God’s people; but we do not take the place (at least I hope we do not) of dwellers “upon earth;” we are not looking for earthly events. We arc travelers. I do not dwell in France or Germany because I have to pass through them. We seek a country, we are traversing earth; but we are dwellers in heaven, our birthplace is heaven. It is true of us on a higher principle, for we shall stand before the Son of God.
Thus do we get the Lord’s dealings with Jews and Gentiles. God reveals to the church what He is about to do in the world, as He did to Abraham about Sodom; and by this He proves that the church does not belong to the world. Our place is most blessed! The Lord give us to hold it in power, as our portion, that we may be indeed strangers and pilgrims here. Amen!